But before we swam around in the deep blue sea we had to first go through the safety rules.
And before we did that we had to first actually get ready.Someone had quite a bit of energy that morning as it was that someone's birthday!!

Cake's are in short supply at 1am in Phuket, so I snuck out to find whatever I could so Chris had something sweet to start his birthday with.
And a candle.
Because everyone should blow a candle out on their birthday.

After lots of research we decided to book a dive with Phuket Dive Tours.
We were picked up by Dave at our hotel and taken to our diving location: Kata Beach.
Before we were allowed in the water forms needed to be filled out, flippers tried on for size, and basic safety gone over.

As you can see, it was quite a casual affair.
Dave was great at answering questions, and preparing us for the open* waters.
*Open water in this case means 10m deep

And then it was finally to time to hit the flippers to the water.
The tanks on your back are heavy... but they sure do inspire you to cross the scalding hot sand quicker.
First up was learning to float, breathe underwater and clear our goggles of water in water that came up to our chest.
Ones we were pros at the breathing, we immediately started to dive, equalize ear pressure and dive deeper and deeper (or so it seemed).
Holding onto the rope/buoy in a follow-the-leader fashion was crucial until we got comfortable being underwater.

After a short while of testing our skills and swimming around we came to a reef filled with fish!
Breathing became second nature and all I wanted to do was pretend I was an Atlantian/mermaid that can breathe underwater and swim with the fishes, touch them and play with them, and find lost treasures.
I got close (closer than I've every been anyways).

Are you kidding me? Is that really what I got to do? Me? That?
That's pretty goodness gracious beautiful if I have something to say about it.

Diving is an exhausting activity.
You may not think so, but after 2 hours we started looking at our oxygen gauges wondering whether we were going up on dry land anytime soon.

Coming out of the ocean was soooo bad ass.
It was something out of a Bond movie.
People on the beach minding their own business, out of nowhere walk out three people that mean business (with a change of fancy dress in the air tank).
Or maybe how Aphrodite felt being born out of the sea?
Or Ariel when she first got legs?

I would highly recommend Phuket Dive Tours if you're interested in learning to dive in Phuket.
Ask if Dave can be your instructor.
He's a great guy. Make sure to ask him about his favorite drinking spots.
He's got quite a few good ones.
We took his advice and frequented some that night... but that's for a different post entirely.